News Release

The Music of Don Redman Opens the Appalachian Chamber Music Festival on Aug. 8

Musicians play at the 2024 ACMF opening concert at Harpers Ferry NHP

Appalachian Chamber Music Festival

News Release Date: July 30, 2025

Join Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (NHP) on Friday, Aug. 8, to celebrate the legacy of jazz legend and Storer College alumnus Don Redman. The Appalachian Chamber Music Festival string musicians will collaborate with the Howard Burns Quartet to perform original arrangements of some of Redman’s most celebrated jazz works. The event begins at 7 p.m. on the lawn by the Mather Training Center. 

The concert is free and open to the public. Visitors are encouraged to RSVP for the concert to receive potential updates including changes due to weather. General parking is available in the old Shipley School lot on Fillmore Street. Accessible parking will be available near the event lawn at 51 Mather Place. 

Known as “The Little Giant of Jazz”, Donald Matthew Redman attended Storer College between 1916 and 1920. After graduation he went on to compose and arrange music for radio, television and many big bands, including his own. He is considered the first great jazz arranger as well as a leading figure in the development of the swing and big band style. 

Storer College was founded in October 1867, becoming the first higher education institution in West Virginia open to African Americans and operating continuously until 1955. What began as a one-room missionary school for formerly enslaved men and women grew into a college that provided both an education and a sense of community for African American students. Today, Harpers Ferry NHP preserves the former campus and the stories of those who lived, learned and taught there.  

This concert is sponsored by the Appalachian Chamber Music Festival, Harpers Ferry Park Association, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, the Corporation of Harpers Ferry, and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. 

For more information on Harpers Ferry NHP events, visit nps.gov/hafe. For more information about Harpers Ferry Park Association events, visit Harpers Ferry Park Association | Harpers Ferry Park Association (harpersferryhistory.org).